Man gets 25 years for Newton break-in; stole art and jewelry valued at more than $500,000

A 50-year-old Boston man was sentenced to 25 years in state prison for breaking and entering into a Newton home and stealing jewelry and art valued at more than $500,000, prosecutors said.

George Correa was found guilty last Wednesday following a bench trial in Middlesex Superior Court. Judge Heidi Brieger sentenced Correa to 20 years in prison for breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a crime, plus an additional five years for a larceny charge, Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office said in a statement.

The tough sentences were handed down under the state’s habitual offender law, which provides for enhanced penalties against repeat offenders.

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The 25-year sentence is to be served after Correa’s current 10-year sentence for another breaking and entering charge, the statement said.

“This takes a career criminal off of our streets for a very long time,” said Ryan in the statement.

On Oct. 22, 2009, Correa and unidentified accomplices climbed into a home on Boylston Street in Newton through a second-floor window. Correa attempted to rip a security unit off the wall, and authorities were alerted, the statement said.

Correa got away from the home with thousands of dollars of diamond earrings and bracelets, gold watches, and two oil paintings worth more than $15,000 each. He also dragged a 300-pound safe out of the home, the statement said.

Newton police recovered fingerprints from the scene and determined they belonged to Correa, the statement said.

Police arrested Correa eight days later, and found in his home a $15,000 watchband that had been kept in the safe of the Boylston Street home. Other items stolen from the safe have not been recovered, the statement said.

The 10-year sentence Correa is currently serving is for breaking and entering into another home on Boylston Street five months earlier, the statement said.